Character counter & post preview
Every platform cuts your text off somewhere different — and most don't warn you before you hit publish. Instagram shows about 125 characters before “more,” X refuses anything past 280, YouTube splits your text into a title field and a separate description with its own limit. Paste your caption once and see exactly where each of the 7 major platforms cuts it, before your audience does.
How it works
Paste or type your text
Nothing is sent anywhere — the count happens right in your browser.
Check every platform at once
See character count, limit, and cut-off point for YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Threads, Pinterest, and X simultaneously.
Trim to fit
Edit until the bar turns from red back to orange, or read the cut-off preview to see exactly what your audience will see.
Where this actually saves a post
A caption that reads fine in your editor can still get chopped mid-sentence on the platform itself. A few places that matters most:
Cross-posting
Writing once and publishing everywhere only works if you check the shortest limit in the group first.
Hooks and openers
Even under the max, most platforms preview only the first line or two — check that your hook survives the cutoff.
Video titles vs. descriptions
YouTube and TikTok have separate limits for the title and the caption/description — check both before uploading.
Frequently asked questions
What happens if my caption goes over the limit?
It depends on the platform. Some (like X) simply won't let you publish over the limit. Others (like Instagram and YouTube) will publish it but truncate what's shown, cutting your caption off mid-sentence behind a “more” link.
What's the difference between a caption limit and a title limit?
Video platforms like YouTube and TikTok split text into a title (short, always visible) and a description or caption (longer, often collapsed). This tool checks whichever field applies to each platform.
Which platform has the shortest limit?
X (Twitter), at 280 characters for free accounts — the strictest of the seven platforms this tool checks.
Why do character counts matter if the limit is thousands of characters?
The maximum isn't the target. Most platforms show only the first 1-3 lines before a “more” cutoff, so even under Instagram's 2,200-character limit, only the first ~125 characters are visible without a tap.
Does going over the limit hurt my reach?
Not directly — but a caption chopped off mid-word or mid-sentence looks unfinished and gets fewer people to tap “more,” which does hurt engagement indirectly.
Why does Threads have a different limit than Instagram if they're the same company?
Threads was built as a text-first, X-style app, so Meta gave it a longer limit than Instagram's caption field, which was designed around a photo with a short caption underneath.
Do emoji and links count toward the character limit?
Yes on every platform this tool checks — emoji typically count as 1-2 characters each, and full URLs count in full even though some platforms display a shortened version.
Is this the same limit the app shows me while typing?
Yes — these are the platforms' official published limits, but always trust what the app itself shows you at the moment of posting, since limits do change.
More free tools
Want one caption automatically resized and published to all 7 platforms?
See AI Auto Publisher